A lithographic apparatus is a machine that applies a desired pattern onto a substrate, usually onto a target portion of the substrate. A lithographic apparatus can be used, for example, in the manufacture of integrated circuits (ICs). In that instance, a patterning device, which is alternatively referred to as a mask or a reticle, may be used to generate a circuit pattern to be formed on an individual layer of the IC. This pattern can be transferred onto a target portion (e.g. comprising part of, one, or several dies) on a substrate (e.g. a silicon wafer). Transfer of the pattern is typically via imaging onto a layer of radiation-sensitive material (resist) provided on the substrate. In general, a single substrate will contain a network of adjacent target portions that are successively patterned. Known lithographic apparatus include so-called steppers, in which each target portion is irradiated by exposing an entire pattern onto the target portion at one time, and so-called scanners, in which each target portion is irradiated by scanning the pattern through a radiation beam in a given direction (the “scanning”-direction) while synchronously scanning the substrate parallel or anti-parallel to this direction. It is also possible to transfer the pattern from the patterning device to the substrate by imprinting the pattern onto the substrate.
In order to monitor the lithographic process, one or more parameters of the patterned substrate are typically measured, for example the overlay error between successive layers formed in or on the substrate. There are various techniques for making measurements of the microscopic structures formed in a lithographic process, including the use of a scanning electron microscope and various specialized tools. One form of specialized inspection tool is a scatterometer in which a beam of radiation is directed onto a target on the surface of the substrate and one or more properties of the scattered or reflected beam are measured. By comparing one or more properties of the beam before and after it has been reflected or scattered by the substrate, one or more properties of the substrate may be determined. This may be done, for example, by comparing the reflected beam with data stored in a library of known measurements associated with a known substrate property. Two main types of scatterometer are known. A spectroscopic scatterometer directs a broadband radiation beam onto the substrate and measures the spectrum (intensity as a function of wavelength) of the radiation scattered into a particular narrow angular range. An angularly resolved scatterometer uses a monochromatic radiation beam and measures the intensity of the scattered radiation as a function of angle. An ellipsometer measures polarization state.
Such a system of illuminating a target and collecting data from the reflected radiation is often used to calculate the overlay error for a pattern. Generally this is achieved by etching a plurality of superimposed gratings (forming a target) into the substrate and measuring the overlay error between the gratings. However, there are many different parameters such as linear displacement, rotation, magnification and/or asymmetry. To account for these different factors, the reflected radiation has been measured from a large number of different positions and a large number of superimposed patterns (or gratings) have been used. Each of these targets occupies an area on the substrate that could otherwise be used for other patterns, such as those that form the basis for an integrated circuit.
The targets are generally positioned in dedicated scribe lanes on the substrate. Each time a new pattern is etched into the substrate a new set of targets is etched to ascertain the overlay error between the present pattern and the immediately preceding pattern. Substrates can have many patterned layers so although one set of targets may not fill a scribe lane many sets of targets are used in the manufacture of an integrated circuit.